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John Flipse Walvoord (May 1, 1910 – December 20, 2002) was aChristiantheologian,pastor, and president ofDallas Theological Seminary from 1952 to 1986. He authored over 30 books, focusing primarily oneschatology and theology, includingThe Rapture Question, and was co-editor ofThe Bible Knowledge Commentary withRoy B. Zuck. He earned the degrees ofBachelor of Arts andDoctor of Divinity fromWheaton College, aMaster of Arts degree fromTexas Christian University in philosophy, aBachelor of Theology,Master of Theology, andDoctor of Theology insystematic theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, and aLitt.D. fromLiberty Baptist Seminary.
Walvoord was brought up in a Christian home but had little interest in the faith until he was fifteen, when his family moved toRacine after his father accepted a position as superintendent of the junior high. They joined the Union Gospel Tabernacle, where Walvoord committed his life toJesus Christ after attending aBible study onGalatians.
After continuing his education at Wheaton College, Walvoord went on toTexas Christian University and then Dallas Theological Seminary, where he completed his Th.D. in 1936. Seminary president and mentorLewis Sperry Chafer appointed Walvoord to the position of registrar. During Walvoord's tenure, he also taught systematic theology at the seminary, and pastored the Rosen Heights Baptist Church in Fort Worth. Walvoord became more involved in the administration of the school, serving as Chafer's assistant and secretary to the faculty. Upon Chafer's death in 1952, he became the seminary's second president, serving until his retirement in 1986.
In addition to his responsibilities at the seminary, Walvoord earned a reputation as one of the most influentialdispensational theologians of the 20th century. He played a prominent role in advocating the doctrine of arapture of Christians from the earth prior to a time ofgreat tribulation, followed by aliteral thousand-year millennial reign of Christ, and a renewed focus of God on the nation of Israel (which he associated with modern-dayJews) as distinct from the Church. As part of his dispensationalist theology, he claimed there was prophetic biblical justification for the restoration of aJewish state inPalestine.[1]
In the wake of the 1967Six-Day War he was a key figure in the growing alignment of the evangelical movement withIsrael (in contrast tomainline Protestants who were aligned with thePalestinian people).[2] His 1974 bookArmageddon, Oil, and the Middle East Crisis attempted to explain the1973 Arab-Israeli War in prophetic context, and it sold a large number of copies. It got updated and rereleased in 1991 at the time of theGulf War and then republished after Walvoord‘s death at the time of theIraq war, selling millions of copies, influencing the resurgence ofChristian Zionism in the US after9/11.[3]
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